DJ Intense & GS Hundal – GQ Lifestyle Volume 1 (Review)

SimplyBhangra.com's Jusi Sahota goes through the new release by Canadian duo DJ Intense and GS Hundal titled 'GQ LIfestye' - Read it now!

The name of "DJ Intense" is a name that Canadian bhangra fans will be hugely familiar with. Aneil Kainth, known to the music world as DJ Intense, started his music career by dominating the underground bhangra scene with successful and consecutive mixtapes before moving onto original production with his debut album "More Than Just A DJ" in 2012.

The album featured a line up full of fresh vocalists and fresh music production and also featuring one of Vancouver's biggest bhangra anthem's to date: "Launian Pehndian". The feedback received from the album was mostly positive prompting DJ Intense to re-enter the studio once again and release his sophomore album in 2013 entitled: "Sophist-A-Folk", another album that showcased DJ Intense's diverse music production and outstanding attitude to creating commercial and enjoyable Bhangra music.

DJ Intense's reputation was rapidly growing in the music scene and opened up new opportunities for DJ Intense in 2014 including a collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh for "This Singh Is So Stylish", Ikka with "In Da Club", Bollywood hits such as "Shake That Booty" and "Paani Wala Dance", which were both featuring actress and model Sunny Leone – alongside many more singles with singers, rappers and music producers across the world.

Now in 2015 and almost three years after releasing his debut album, DJ Intense has returned to his home studio in Vancouver and once again collaborated with vocalist GS Hundal for the first edition of "GQ Lifestyle". The EP features five tracks that showcases GS Hundal and DJ Intense's distinct musical identity.

Track 1 – Chali Jandha

Now if this was a typical bhangra album, track one would be the artist's best dancefloor number. This isn't the case with this album. The track is slow, soulful and has an enormous amount of emotion in to it. For all the bhangra fans from Vancouver, the track is perfect for the drive across Alex Fraser bridge with the sunset departing in front of you.

The track has an enormous amount of "modern West Coast R&B" influence and embodies the music, emotion and thought process that has gone into this album. Not much too say about this track other than the fact the bassline, drums and flute have been mixed to perfection. A very well produced and composed track and a great opener!

Track 2 – Diamond Koka

Every album needs a dance-floor number, and here it is! Sadly, it's the only dance-floor track featured on this EP – but definitely does not disappoint. Prior to the release of this track, many local DJ's had the opportunity to play this track at events in Vancouver – and the track had already received a huge response before release! The music featured is signature DJ Intense - a kicking bhangra beat, catchy hook-line and simple chord structure for all to enjoy. The track instantly became my favourite on the album and instantly had "summer anthem" written all over it after the first listen. Definitely the strongest track on the album and will surely have listeners hooked instantly.

Track 3 – Hold Up (feat. Makhi)

If you're looking for another track that represents GS Hundal and DJ Intense's "West Coast R&B" musical side – then here it is! It's simply R&B, added with a bit of DJ Intense's desi side. The track features the debut of rapper "Makhi" – the newest signing to DJ Intense's production group "Intense Music Group". His rapping and rhymes are generic, weak and boring - with hardly any flow and the adding of rap doesn't really bring the track together either. Hopefully, Makhi can grow as a rapper and become a success under IMG.

Track 4 – Kali Kithe

Again, another "West Coast R&B" inspired track from GS Hundal and DJ Intense. I particularly enjoy the bassline on this track – but isn't enough for me to enjoy the track as a whole. For me, this is the weakest track on the album – but may be ideal for the taste of other listeners. Skiiiiiip.

Track 5 – Perfect Match

And before you know it, we're down to the last track on the album. The track is totally different to anything we've heard on this album and completely different to what we have heard from this duo. First time listening to it, and I couldn't believe that GS Hundal was singing this track. His vocals are deeper and the vocal tone heard showcases the emotion in this track. The music is slow and again showcases DJ Intense's strong interest in West Coast R&B music. A good ending to the album!

Positives

A lot of time, emotion and thought process has gone into this album and you can tell when carefully listening to this album.The album has been strongly influenced from modern day R&B beats, especially beats made from west coast based producers, and exploits where the artist's involved are located in Canada.

All of the tracks are listenable, and there is something there to suit everyone's taste in music.

The album isn't "typical bhangra", full of bhangra dance track - and the music heard are not "recycled beats" – but are instead fresh lyrics and music production that the producer and singer enjoy.

Quality over quantity. Yes there are only five tracks, but each track is different than the one heard previously. I would rather have five different tracks than ten tracks that all sound the same. Music producers, take note!

Negatives

There are only five tracks! An added remix of a previous track or remix of one of the tracks already featured would have been a good addition to the album. Looks like we have to wait until we hear fantastic and fresh music from this very talented duo.Four of five tracks featured can be described as "easy listening". As EDM is a genre of music that DJ Intense has explored previously (Nachne Nu Kare, Naa Baliyeh), the addition of an EDM inspired track would of added depth to the album, totally switched up the album and would of made a lot of listeners happy!

So there we have it, a review of GS Hundal and DJ Intense's new album. If you are looking for Bhangra music that is fresh, quality and different to any other current release – then this album is definitely for you! The album has already received a huge amount of praise from local supporters based in Vancouver, and the artists involved definitely deserve that praise.

Both GS Hundal and DJ Intense have grown ever since they released their first original track "Tu Kaildee" many years ago, and their distinct musical identity is something that I quite like about them. I very much wish the artists involved the very best of luck with this album and I am excited to hear what's next from this duo

Be sure to support GS Hundal and DJ Intense's new album - available to download legally from iTunes.